Lost for years, the music of The Tiger Who Came to Tea author's mother is heard again
Lost for years, Julia Kerr’s music has resurfaced, reviving attention to Chronoplan and to the life of Judith Kerr’s mother, a once-forgotten Weimar-era composer. The rediscovery unfolded in Caputh, near Berlin, where descendants gathered at Einstein’s lakeside house to celebrate Kerr’s work and its setting for Chronoplan. Kerr began Chronoplan in the late 1920s, but the planned premiere was halted after Hitler’s rise, forcing her into exile in 1933 and ending her composing career. Performances of the recovered compositions were presented by Ruth Rosenfeld, with Norbert Biermann reconstructing the scores. Kerr’s circle included Einstein, Richard Strauss, George Bernard Shaw, and Arthur Schnitzler, who visited the house for intimate salons and boat trips on the nearby lake.
